How to Talk with Childrenabout Global Warming by D. Franklin

Summary

How to Talk with Children about Global Warming (HtTwCaGW) is a multimedia work-in-progress focused on somatizing eco-social awareness. It explores our somatic relationship with environmental issues. The various media are "entrances" for the audience. One might attend the dance performance and see scifi books for sale; another might read the book and discover the music; yet another might hear the music and attend the exhibtion of drawings; etc. The piece is modular and each of the components can be presented independently or as a whole (depending on logistical and funding constraints).

• Solo dance performance in a black box theater (or outdoors, according to Covid-19 restrictions)

• Soundtrack of experimental electro-acoustic music for the dance performance, released online in conjunction with music videos

• Gallery exhibition of pen-and-ink drawings combined with digital prints to create a non-digital “poetic blockchain” that articulates the philsophy of HtTwCaGW. Alternatively, drawings would be printed as postcards and distributed as part of a street art performance.

• Site-specific guerrilla public street art workshops aimed at provoking public discourse. One aspect is a public art festival celebrating cooperation and somatic adaptation that enables safe physical togetherness. In the context of Covid, imagine public space with 2m circles drawn to encourage distancing; string quartets play, while wind instruments join in only from windows at a safe distance; choreographers create site-specific dances in which the dancers wear respirators, etc. Individual street performances include masking statues and selling rose-colored glasses while distributing respirators for free.

• A series of movement education workshops based on a “dialogue with the body” to explore somatic heritage and physicalizing narratives.

• Scifi storytelling: dramatic envisioning of collective future(s) through writing / storytelling workshops / public readings

• Curriculum materials for teachers/parents to use with children, exploring their fears about environmental issues and encouraging ecological living*

* Development of prototype materials would start after participation in Driving the Human October 2021. The experiences and contacts gained would support the development of future-proofed curriculum materials (in consulatation with educators) aimed at somatizing eco-social awareness.

The common thread of all these elements is somatic education for all, but especially for children, thus future-proofing knowledge by embodying it. The theme “global warming” is a stand-in for humanity’s approach to threats facing the biosphere, while “children” are a stand-in for all of us. Rationalist technocratic solutions and regulations seem to be failing because of a global crisis of epistemology and fragmentation of consensus reality. What is our collective somatic reaction? Humanity’s survival may depend on mass behavioral changes that move toward voluntary simplicity, and which could be sparked by cultural changes in which our ethical compasses are re-oriented toward collective survival through an art that incorporates physicalized storytelling to re-narrate public discourse and change our bodies' relationships with the environment. The goal of all the various aspects of the piece is to somatize and embody an up-to-date form of eco-social awareness.

D. Franklin is a visual artist, performer, somatic movement educator, videographer, musician and translator who lives near Prague, Czech

Republic. Originally from New York City, he is a graduate of Harvard (A.B. cultural anthropology 1987), the Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts (Dip. video and performance 1995) and Université Paris 8 St-Denis (M.A. digital humanities 2015).

His career spans the remarkable. He has supervised film and TV crews with political figures, rock stars, and iconic intellectuals in the lens (George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Amanda Palmer, Noam Chomsky). He has performed with a Czech dissident artist and in a cult film/performance (Milan Kohout, Michael Popeʼs Neovoxer). He has managed an acupuncture clinic for people with AIDS and has led Shintaido movement workshops in the US, Japan, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and on a deserted island.

His current work-in-progress, How to Talk with Children about Global Warming, is a dance performance, series of drawings, guerilla street performances, and album of electro-acoustic music based on his science fiction novel of the same name.

dance@dfranklin.org+420 608 534 383www.dfranklin.org

photo Michaela Vojteková

T I M E L I N E2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

HtTwCaGW by D. Franklinp. 2

drawings & concept started

2 drawings completed

October 2021

started recording

exhibit of drawings

album design,pre-release

all drawings completedmasteringcompleted

selecting tracks for the dance

soundtrack

preparing exhibit

started choreographing

video shoot

work-in-progress dance performance

planning movement workshops

movement workshop

started writing

1st draft of 2 chapters

3rd draft of 6 chapters (75 pp.)

storytelling workshop

drawings

music

dance

scifi story

movement education

album release event& dance performance

guerrilla street art

selling rose-colored glasses

masking statues

street art workshop & performances

Anticipated outcomes: Berlin, October 2021

Due to the unpredictabiity of the Covid-19 situation, all events should be structured with the assumption that they will be held outside in the open air (streets, parks, public squares). If conditions allow, some events would ideally be indoors. Planning should allow for both contingencies.

drawings gallery exhibit of drawings / or distribution of printed reproductions as street performance / outdoorsmusic the recorded music project is integrated into the dance performancedance solo performance with recorded music plus mini live concert in a small theater / or outdoorsmovement workshops challenge somatized individuality and learn group movement in a gym, studio / or outdoorsstorytelling workshops develop awareness of narratives and how they become somatized in a studio / or outdoorsguerrilla street art activates public spaces as sites of both aesthetic and ethical discourse / only outdoors

“non-digital blockchain” drawing technique developed

curriculum materials for children

curriculum materials were developed by a fictional character in the novel HtTwCaGW; the experiences, knowledge, and contacts anticipated during Driving the Human will be

used afterwards to drive the prototyping of real future-proofed curriculum materials (in consulatation with educators) focused on somatizing eco-social awareness.

start developing

music video“Lost My Job at the

Oil Company” completed

HtTwCaGW @Driving the Human, Berlin October 2021Subtotals for each module

If in a theater:

If outdoors:

If in a gallery:

If outdoors:

If in a gym/studio

If outdoors:

If in a studio or theater

If outdoors:

Variant 1: masking statues(building the statue-masking device, then using it in public space)

Variant 2: public engagement, interaction and improvisation(outdoors only)

Global expenses

Total funding requested(indoor variation)

Total funding requested(outdoor variation)

dance performance budgetTechnical requirements:

capacity 80 - 200, rear-projection screen, theatrical projector, marley floor, stage min. 8 x 12m, basic lighting grid, PA system

• venue rental: 2 days rehearsal + 3 days performance !" 2500

• personnel: lighting & audio technicians x 5 days !" 4000

• admin support: ticketing

dance performance in a theater subtotal !" 6500Technical requirements:

outdoor location where a campfire is possible (performance will start in darkness before sunrise), battery-powered portable PA system, transportation. the preferred location is Berlin’s Tempelhofer Feld, but this is flexible

• PA rental !" 50

• car rental !" 50

• personnel: audio technician x 1/2 day !" 300

dance performance outdoors subtotal !" 400

drawing exhibition budgetTechnical requirements:

Small white-cube gallery (40-80m2)

• framing of work prior to exhibition !" 500

• rental for 2 weeks !" 2100

• wine and cheese etc. for gallery opening !" 60

drawing exhibition in a gallery subtotal !" 2660Technical requirements:

• printing 2000 postcards !" 100

drawing exhibition outdoors subtotal !" 100

movement workshops budgetTechnical requirements:

wood floor, min 15m2 per participant x min 10 participants

• gym or studio rental 2hrs x 3 sessions !" 180

movement workshop in gym/studio subtotal !" 180Technical requirements:

the preferred location is Berlin’s Tempelhofer Feld, but this is flexible

movement workshop outdoors subtotal !" 0

storytelling workshops budgetTechnical requirements:

min 15m2 per participant x min 10 participants

• studio or theater rental 2hrs x 3 sessions !" 180

storytelling workshops budget subtotal !" 180Technical requirements:

a park or similar location, not too noisy

movement workshop outdoors subtotal !" 0

guerrilla street art workshops budget

Technical requirements:

access to basic woodworking tools: workbench, drills, saws, measuring tape -- could be outdoors if there is access to electricity and an adequate work surface

• woodshop / tool rental for max 8 participants 1 hr !" 60

• supplies (wood, respirators, clips, nuts, bolts, washers, sandpaper) !" 120

guerrilla street art workshop Variant 1 subtotal !" 180Technical requirements: public space

guerrilla street art workshop Variant 2 subtotal !" 0

(regardless of which module is funded)round-trip travel Prague-Berlin !" 100

artist’s honorarium !300/day x 6 days !" 1800

artist’s per diem (meals, transport w/in Berlin, misc. !50 x 6 days !" 300

accommodation in Berlin !40 x 6 days !" 240

subtotal global fixed expenses !" 2440

!" 12140

!" 2940

B U D G E THtTwCaGW by D. Franklinp. 3

photo Tereza Soldatová

HtTwCaGW has modular components, each of which could be presented independently depending on budgetary or other considerations, or ideally the piece would be presented as a unitary whole. Variations (indoors and outdoors) of each module are included to adjust for restrictions concerning Covid-19.

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Guerrilla street art workshop: building a statue-masker

HtTwCaGW by D. Franklinp. 4

photo Tereza Soldatová

D R A W I N G S

If, as Oppenheimer said, the ʻprogressʼ of civilization is not a fraud, why is there no fork in the road of the anumus mundi? [sic]Digital print, rapidograph on paper. 33” x 21” (84 x 53cm)

(detail)

When you start/stop to scratch the itch, you water the Fields of UncertaintyDigital print, rapidograph on paper. 33” x 21” (84 x 53cm)

(detail)

M U S I CHtTwCaGW by D. Franklinp. 5

https://soundcloud.com/manta-601346377/spit-fire-at-the-devil

https://soundcloud.com/manta-601346377/rivers-of-space

https://soundcloud.com/manta-601346377/arctic-twang

https://vimeo.com/390846365

2 min 42 sec

6 min 57 sec

3 min 54 sec

3 min 58 secM U S I CV I D E O

Lost My Job at the Oil Company

All pieces were improvised and recorded in a single take, “live-to-tape” with no multitrack recording, overdubbing or post-production. These home recordings were made with acoustic nylon string guitar, an SM57 microphone, a Roland AC-33 portable guitar amp with chorus, reverb, and phrase-looper effects, and custom-built analogue synthesizers made from a children’s toy called Little Bits, recorded on a Zoom H5 digital recorder. The analogue synthesizers do not have sampling. Technically, the looper is a type of sampling, but none of the sounds in my music were sampled, recorded, or prepared prior to the “live-to-tape” recording, with the exception of the voices in Lost My Job at the Oil Company.

D A N C EHtTwCaGW by D. Franklinp. 6

Work-in-progress performances at Lenka Jišová Studio (Pilsen) and Jméno Café (Prague) with flautist/composer Yii Kah Hoe (http://www.yiikahhoe.com/), 2018

Technical requirements for theatrical presentation

M O V E M E N TE D U C A T I O N

HtTwCaGW by D. Franklinp. 7

D. Franklin leading Shintaido movement workshops at Lamorlaye FR; Prague CZ; on a deserted island, Maine USA; with children in Pilsen CZ; and Bexhill UK

HtTwCaGW by D. Franklinp. 8

S T O R Y T E L L I N G

Sample creative writing exercise:

1. You are a single hydrocarbon molecule. Tell the story of the 20th century from your point of view. When you went from being underground for millions of years to being in the open air, were you “liberated” from pressure underground? Were you “extracted” from your comfortable home? How do you feel, floating above the Earth, destroying the ozone layer? As you serve the purposes of humans, are you a slave to their needs, or a happy robot? How do you feel about being used as an ingredient in napalm? Do you feel for your brothers and sisters, being refined, transported, and ignited in the engines of industry? Completing this assignment will require doing some research on the history of the fossil fuel industry, chemistry, geopolitics of the early 20th century in the Middle East, paleontology of dinosaurs, etc.

2. You are the entire Amazon rain forest...

Excerpt  from  the  novelHow  to  Talk  with  Children  about  Global  Warmingby  D.  Franklin

“They  are  the  Monkeys  That  Burn  Stuff,”  she  wrote  in  her  notebook.  “They  do  what  it  is  their  nature  to  do.  You  don’t  blame  bacteria  for  multiplying  exponentially  when  given  the  chance,  do  you?”  Was  it  racist  to  call  the  whole  human  species  ‘the  Monkeys  That  Burn  Stuff’?  It’s  just  descriptive.  If  somebody  puts  a  value  judgement  on  ‘monkeys,’  that  their  species-­‐ism.  Not  my  circus,  not  my  monkey.  Not  my  problem  that  your  monkey  has  evolved  from  winging  nasty-­‐smelling  turds  at  you  to  setting  stuff  on  Jire.  Except  it  is  my  monkey,  because  we  are  all  those  monkeys.  And  we  think  we’re  the  circus  ringmaster.  Aye,  there’s  the  rub.

She  turned  her  bike  around  and  went  back  to  where  she  had  come  from.  As  the  shadows  of  late  afternoon  sunbeams,  having  departed  from  the  Sun  8  minutes  20  seconds  ago  and  arriving  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts  USA  just  now,  lengthened  into  springtime  evening  twilight,  and  the  red  taillights  glowed  and  blinked  and  winked  in  the  stop-­‐and-­‐go  trafJic  on  the  roads  that  curve  in  parallel  with  the  ancient  meandering  rhythms  of  a  river,  she  saw  a  man  praying.  She  was  about  to  meet  Mahmoud  and  ask  him  why  he  was  praying  to  cars.…

HtTwCaGW by D. Franklinp. 9

Multiple masks placed on Chaplin— a Sculpture of His Film (Chaplin— plastika němu filmu) by Vladimír Preclík in Pragueʼs Barrandov district, home to several famous Czech film studios.

Masaryk monument, Pilsen, with the masked soldier standing as far as

possible from Masaryk (to protect him?). A passer-by called the cops on me

At Saský Bridge (also called Roosevelt Bridge) in Pilsen, Czech Republic, built by Martin Stelzer. I

donʼt know which saint this is. A passer-by laughed as I was putting the mask on the statue, commenting

“Even these poor guys have to wear masks now.” She was wearing a mask.

S T R E E T A R T

The statue-masker device in action at the Memorial to Victims of Communism (Pomník obětem komunismu) in Prague

MASKING STATUES

ROSE-COLORED GLASSESFOR SALESelling rose-colored glasses at the Ministry of Health, Prague(and distributing masks for free)